It’s just the start of the wet season in Cambodia, and like I’d said before, that means there really shouldn’t be any rice to harvest right now! But, lucky us, one of our neighbours has been a part of HOPE's Dry Season Rice projects... and so, has a whole field of golden ripe rice ready for us to harvest!
All this would've just been barren for 8 months of the year? Crazy..
Well, with a grim-reaper blade in hand, we get to take a go at rice-harvesting!
My first harvest handful, ta-da!!
Nice work, team! :)
Kat’s even got the bundle-tying down!
Done!
... But now we’ve got to thrash it to get the rice kernels off! ... By schmacking the bundles against a wooden plank! Hiyaaaa! (Adam's go at it)
Look at all ‘em kernels flying off! (Scottie)
Kat, showcasing the shake-shake-shake (+song) technique.
And, finally... rice!
Fun! :) Kinda awesome to see where it really all comes from (ie, not just in a bag from grocery store!). There’s a lot of work that goes into it before it gets to our table. And- a lot of real people and real lives. Our neighbours, by the way, since being a part of the Dry Season Rice project, have been able to earn enough income (selling extra rice) to put their kids in school, and this year their oldest son is going to college! He wants to work in a business one day. Kudos & best wishes to him! :)
I didn't write about it before, but when I was doing the project evaluations on the Dry Season Rice Projects just before the UNION team came in, I talked with 2 groups of farmers (maybe 20+ people altogether) who were telling me about life in the dry season before joining the project. Many of them went to the Thai Border looking for wage labour doing agricultural work, carrying huge loads (a guy said he cried when he saw what he had to carry). They illegally crossed to the Thai side if they couldn't find work on the Cambodian side & -often- got arrested, beat up, any earnings taken from them, put in jail, dumped back into Cambodia in trucks, etc. But they had no better choice. Yikes. Now being able to work on their own land, on their own soil, in safety, with their families... and provide for their families through the year... is nothing short of amazing. Pure joy. :)
Thanks to our neighbours for letting us join in on their work, fun, lives... and yes indeed... joy. :)
Want to be a part of this?
So, what do you think about living a life like this? I think it's so peaceful. I lived a life like this since I was born until I moved to Phnom Penh in 1998.
ReplyDeleteHi! ....How did you find my blog?
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely beautiful! Srok Khmae sa-aat naa! :)